Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Parliament Approves Windsor Framework
Yesterday afternoon, the House of Commons held a 90 minute debate on the Windsor Framework, the new proposed deal between the UK and EU over managing the Irish border. The framework creates two traffic lanes for goods coming into Ulster from the rest of the UK: green for goods not leaving Ulster and red for those going on into the EU via the Irish Republic. The MPs then marched through the division lobbies with a seemingly big win for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, 515 to 29. Yet the 29 are qualitatively more important because of who they are. Among them are 22 Tories of the European Research Group and the rest members of the Democratic Unionist Party. In other words, Brexit is not completely done.
The total vote count was 515 for (Labour backed the government) while 48 Tories abstained. That means 70 members of the Conservative Party did not support the deal, and by extension the government. This indicates a significant number of MPs who should be backing the deal are not doing so.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the DUP, said, "That where EU law is applied to facilitate cross border trade, that it does not impede the ability to trade with the rest of our own country... that is the bottom line for us and until that is resolved I can\'t commit to the Government that we will restore political institutions. That is what I want to do but, we need to get this right." By restoring political institutions, he means his party returning to its responsibilities in the Stormont government that governs Northern Ireland (when the DUP is not boycotting it).
ITV noted that Sir Jeffrey "spoke of \'the real solution\' being a proposal set out in the Protocol Bill which proposed NI companies trading with the UK following UK rules, and those trading with the EU following EU rules." So, that would appear to be the bottom line for the biggest Unionist party.
The absence of the DUP from the Stormont government means that the Windsor Framework cannot be implemented in full. Part of the framework is known as the Stormont Brake, which would allow thet5 Unionists of one party or another. The nationalists lack the numbers, so it would be a Unionist tool. The DUP is betting that without the brake the system becomes unworkable and renegotiation will follow. So long as this sabotage continues, Brexit cannot be considered done despite what the PM says.
There are some reasons to believe that the vote has improved things despite not fully resolving them. Sir Jeffrey has said he would like a system where the EU rules apply to some Ulster businesses while UK rules apply to others. That is a significant change from the hardcore unionism of the 1970s that said no to everything.
Also, the Labour Party could have made a pig\'s breakfast of the entire thing but chose to be a country-first party, backing the government. This suggests the framework is not going to be a factor in the general election to come outside of Ulster.
The final point for optimism is the response of the next biggest Unionist party, the Ulster Unionist Party. Doug Beattie, who leads the UUP, said, "The vote on the Stormont brake has shown that the UK Government are moving on and that the DUP boycott has failed. Unionism has a decision to make, do we want to have influence via the Assembly and Executive, or do we want to be nothing more than passengers with no say over the direction we are headed? The Ulster Unionist Party is clear as to which is best for Northern Ireland.: Rejectionism"is not part of his approach on this matter.
Yesterday, the vote did not deliver Brexit completely. It did, however, move things forward for Ulster and Eire. It has improved the protections of the 25-year-old peace brought by the Good Friday Accords. That is worth celebrating.
© Copyright 2023 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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